76ers' Joel Embiid Says It's Been 'Extremely Annoying' to Deal With Knee Injury

Philadelphia 76ers star center Joel Embiid had a successful return from his knee injury in Sunday's 108-100 win over the Chicago Bulls, but he admitted that he's still having trouble with the mental toll he felt while working his way back to the court.

"I've been saying it for the last few months. It's been extremely depressing," Embiid told ESPN's Tim Bontemps after Sunday's win. "It's something that hasn't been figured out, and it's been extremely annoying, because I would love to play every single game."

Embiid scored 31 points on 13-of-28 shooting while adding 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks in Sunday's victory. It was his first game since his 35-point, 11-rebound performance against the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 20, and it was just his fifth appearance of the season.

Injury management coupled with an NBA suspension caused Embiid to miss the first nine games of the season. After returning for a four-game stretch, he was shut down again due to swelling in his left knee and personal reasons.

When asked about how the last few months have been for him, he told Bontemps plainly, "Depressing. Just trying to figure it out. There's no injury. Just between the swelling ... we've got to get it figured out. That's it."

Embiid's return on Sunday allowed him to share the floor with fellow stars Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, as the three of them previously only played six minutes together this season due to their various absences. In the 26 minutes they played together on Sunday, Philadelphia outscored Chicago by 14 points.

"It felt great," George said. "It felt great to finally gets some consistency with big fella out there and myself and [Tyrese]. It felt good to kind of put the team back together and log some minutes today."

Still, at 7-15, the Sixers have a lot of work to do to climb out of their early-season hole. They will have a few days to rest before taking on the Indiana Pacers (10-15) on Friday.

"It starts with health," Embiid said. "It felt good to have the guys on the floor. I believe if we're healthy, and we're on the floor, we have a chance against anybody, and I like what we have.

"I think the whole thing is about health ... that's what it comes down to. I wish I could have been playing from the beginning. I would love to play every single game, every single minute, but sometimes your body just says, 'No,' and you can't do nothing about it. All you can do is just keep working to fix it and get better."